Friday, November 30, 2012

Today our own Jeannie Watt talks about a wonderful 1940s Christmas comedy, The Shop Around the Corner.

I love Christmas movies, especially when they have a nice
romance involved. Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas in Connecticut,
White Christmas…*sigh*

My latest Christmas movie
find is a gem of a story about two people who can’t stand each other, but are
actually falling in love via correspondence. If it sounds a lot like You’ve Got Mail, that’s
because this movie is You’ve Got Mail’s charming predecessor, The Shop Around
the Corner.

The Shop Around the Corner is a 1940 comedy starring Margaret
Sullavan—Klara—and Jimmy Stewart—Alfred—as two employees of a Budapest gift
shop who rub each other the wrong way.
The shop’s owner Mr. Matuschek, values both of them as employees,
although Alfred has been with him longer and is the top salesman. Klara is spunky and excellent with customers.
Alfred and Klara are not good with each other.

Alfred, who is constantly annoyed by Klara, is about to meet
his mystery correspondent for the first time, and if all goes well, he plans to
propose. He is very happy that the woman he’s writing to is cultured and
sophisticated—the antithesis of Klara.
Klara is quite happy that the man she’s writing to is nothing like
Alfred…I think you have the picture.

There’s subplot
involving the store owner, his suspicions about his wife having a lover that
interweaves with the ongoing hopes of Klara and Alfred for an HEA with their
mystery correspondents.

With a short, sassy, character driven film such as this, it’s
hard to write a synopsis that does justice to the story, so I’ll just say:

1) I watched the movie by accident and ordered the DVD as
soon as possible.

2) My daughter watched the movie with me and orderd the DVD as soon as possible.

3) This film is listed at #28 in the American Film Industry’s
100 Years…100 Passions—a list of the top 100 film love stories.

4) It has Jimmy Stewart. I adore Jimmy Stewart.

If you’re in the market for a sparkling example of 1940’s
comedy, with two wonderful stars, I highly recommend The Shop Around the
Corner.

This is one of the four movies included in TCM's Christmas collection, which I received as a gift last year from a friend. I am looking forward to watching it this year--and may have to watch You've Got Mail after. :D

Hi Jeannie, all those movies you listed are my favorites. Back when we had VHS I recorded them all and played them every year. Add to that list: The Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. This year I'll look for them on Netflix.

I love Christmas movies, too, especially the classics like The Shop Around The Corner. If you haven't tried Holiday Affair with Robert Mitchum, you really should, it's such a sweet movie, which you totally wouldn't expect of him.